Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Employment: Bullying

lord brooke of alverthorpe: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to incorporate clauses to end bullying,harassment and sexual misconduct at work in the forthcoming Employment Bill.

lord callanan: The Government is clear that bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct is unacceptable and is concerned by evidence that confidentiality agreements are being used to intimidate victims of harassment into silence. We consulted on the misuse of confidentiality clauses between workers and their employers in 2019 and in response, have committed to: Legislating to ensure that a workplace confidentiality clause cannot prevent an individual disclosing to the police, regulated health and care professionals or legal professionals;Legislating so that the limitations of a confidentiality clause are clear to those signing them;Legislating to improve independent legal advice available to an individual; This legislation will be brought forward in due course.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Coronavirus

baroness sheehan: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment have they made of the risk posed by COVID-19 to low- and middle-income countries.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: To prioritise international support, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has assessed which countries are most at risk of the importation of cases and how prepared they are for a potential outbreak. The UK assessment is that COVID-19 poses an immediate health risk to low- and middle-income countries as well as secondary health and socio-economic impacts. Diseases are global threats and to save lives around the world we need a strong international response. The UK has announced up to £241 million of UK aid funding to support the global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 and to support multilateral actors, including the WHO, to mitigate the impacts for low- and middle-income countries.

China: Coronavirus

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reported arrest and disappearance of (1) Fang Bin, (2) Chen Qiushi, and (3) Li Zehua, who had been live-streaming updates from Wuhan on the COVID-19 outbreak.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: These reports are concerning and we are following the situation closely. We have publicly raised our concerns about the lack of due process and judicial transparency in China, including in the most recent Foreign and Commonwealth Office Human Rights and Democracy report.

Department for Work and Pensions

Sick Leave: Coronavirus

lord greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they are giving to employers of people in insecure employment including (1) people on zero-hours contracts, (2) self-employed individuals working for organisations as if they were employees, and (3) people in similar precarious circumstances where it is not possible to claim statutory sickness benefit, in situations wherepeople are advised to self-isolate due to contracting COVID-19, experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, or having been in contact with cases of COVID-19; and what advice theyare giving to peoplein such circumstances.

baroness stedman-scott: As both the Prime Minister and Chancellor have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID 19 and we have been clear in our intention that no one should be penalised for doing the right thing. These are rapidly developing circumstances, we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.